The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig rounds third on his way to scoring during the second game of the two-game Major League Baseball opening series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney, Sunday, March 23, 2014. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

SYDNEY, Australia >> Hyun-Jin Ryu won 98 games as a professional pitcher in his native South Korea. In 2008, he won an Olympic gold medal in Beijing. As a major-league rookie last year in Los Angeles, Ryu won 14 games for the Dodgers.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Ryu looked right at home at the Sydney Cricket Ground today.

With his older brother, Hyun-Soo, in attendance, the Dodgers’ left-hander threw five shutout innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks, allowing only two singles, walking one batter and striking out five. The Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-5, sweeping their historic two-game series.

One day before his first start of the season, Ryu confessed to a rare case of anxiety. It was no different before his first major-league start a year ago, a game in which he was shelled for 10 hits and got no run support in a loss to the San Francisco Giants.

This game went much better for Ryu, who only allowed four earned runs in four Cactus League starts. And he had help.

Leadoff hitter Dee Gordon (3 for 4), Yasiel Puig (3 for 5), Andre Ethier (2 for 4) and Juan Uribe (3 for 5) had multi-hit games. The Dodgers inflicted slow and painful punishment, scoring one run in the first inning, two in the third, two in the fifth, one in the sixth and another in the seventh.

Puig singled in the first inning, his first hit of the season. With one out, Ethier singled and Puig scored from second base.

A single by Ryu, a double by Gordon and an RBI single by Puig – who was thrown out in a rundown between first and second base – gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Gordon scored on a sacrifice fly by Adrian Gonzalez.

Mike Baxter’s double-play groundout with the bases loaded in the fifth inning drove in Gonzalez with the Dodgers’ fourth run. Uribe belted an RBI double to left field to score Ethier and make it a 5-0 game.

Gordon led off the sixth inning with a bunt single and went to second base when catcher Miguel Montero overthrew first base. Puig drove in Gordon with a double to left field, giving the Dodgers a 6-0 lead.

Gordon’s sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the seventh inning drove in A.J. Ellis with the Dodgers’ seventh and final run.

The Diamondbacks ended the Dodgers’ shutout bid in the eighth inning. Jamey Wright, the Dodgers’ fourth pitcher of the game, walked Martin Prado and allowed back-to-back singles to Miguel Montero and Mark Trumbo. The announced crowd of 38,079 applauded loudly when Prado scored from second base on Trumbo’s single.

Prado hit a two-run single off Jose Dominguez in the ninth inning and Trumbo hit a two-run home run off Kenley Jansen with two outs to provide the final score.

A total of 14 pitchers threw a pitch. They combined to hit two batters and walked another 16. As a result, the game dragged more than an hour longer than the Dodgers’ 3-1 win on Opening Day, a game that lasted 2 hours and 49 minutes.

The two games were played on Saturday in the home markets of both teams – the first at 2 a.m. Pacific time, the second at 7:14 p.m. Locally, Game 1 began at 8 p.m. Saturday and the second at 1:14 p.m. today.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.